Alfred Wright’s Family Suspects Cover-Up In Texas Man’s Death

This undated handout photo provided by the Wright Family shows Alfred Wright. The death of Wright remains shrouded in unanswered questions as his family continues to reject claims by authorities that their loved one died of a drug overdose and instead believe that foul play was involved. (AP Photo/The Wright Family)

The curious and morbid case murder case of Texas man Alfred Wright has take some new twists after allegations from the family that the police investigation is part of an elaborate cover up. Further, the married father of three has been romantically linked to the Sabine County Sheriff Tom Maddox‘s daughter which adds another wrinkle to the already complicated matter.

United Kingdom publication The Daily Mail investigated the happenings of the case thus far, which has been in development since Wright’s body was found last November near the small town of Hemphill. From the start, the case has been mired in doubtful claims that Wright, a physical trainer, displayed habits that local police said mimicked the actions of a meth addict.

Wright was missing for 19 days before he was found in the woods near the store where his truck broke down and he called his wife for help. An initial autopsy report ruled Wright’s death coming as a result of an accidental overdose, but the Wright family refused the report and ordered one of their own.

What was discovered was chilling: Wright’s throat was slashed, two teeth were knocked out, a missing ear and his tongue cut out. The injuries to Wright were not consistent to animals perhaps comprising the crime scene, and the family contends that Wright was beaten and tortured by unknown forces. The Daily Mail has more:

In an emotional interview with MailOnline, Alfred’s parents and widow told of their anger and pain in their fight for the truth that began with a phone call from Alfred on Thursday 7 November.

According to his mother, Rosalind, 54: ‘There are some days I feel I might lose my mind, thinking what was done to him. But the fight keeps me going.

‘I think this is a hate crime. What they did to my boy, it hurts me so much to think of it.’
Alfred, who provided homecare, had only recently started seeing patients in Hemphill, which is an hour’s drive from Jasper.

As recalled in the Daily Mail interview with the family, on November 7 Wright called his wife complaining of trouble with his truck and stopped at the CL&M convenience store. Witnesses say Wright was seen talking on his cell phone before he went missing and allegedly drinking from a bottle.

Wright’s wife, Lauren, called her parents to go assist her husband and when they arrived they found that he went missing. Lauren’s last phone call with her husband was one-sided, as all she heard was heavy breathing when she called him that evening.

A clerk in the store claims that Wright bolted from the scene on foot, and they couldn’t understand why. Sabine County officials, including Chief Maddox, scoured the area and found just a few of Wright’s belongings. The Wight family hired a private investigator, who suggested that Wright may have been having an affair with the White sheriff’s daughter, Cindy Maddox. It should be noted that Wright was also married to a White woman.

Several talking heads have speculated that because of Jasper’s racist history, considering the James Byrd lynching happened there, and Wright being married to a White woman could have contributed greatly to the mysterious death. Activists, such as Kevin Powell, have pledged their support for the Wright family and the Justice Department has said they intend to keep tabs on the case as well.

Mrs. Wright admitted that her husband did keep things to himself, but doesn’t suspect their were other women or drugs. Wright’s brother, American Idol finalist Savion Wright, has spoken publicly on the case as the family struggles to find answers.

The family alleges that Sheriff Maddox and his team have not been cooperative in assisting the Wright family in their need for answers and closure. An outside pathologist supports the Wrights in calling the case a murder, this after she said that if a decomposing body is found in the woods that typically it’s considered a homicide.

Is the Wright case an elaborate cover-up? Was there some clandestine affair between Wright and the sheriff’s daughter? The answers are slow to come in the tragic case, but there should be much more to come in the near future.